Chaelbs l



(No Model.)

G. L. WAGANDT.

SPEAKING TUBE.

No. 375,586. Patented Dec. 27, 1887.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES L. WAGANDT, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

SPEAKING-TUBE.

SPECIFICATION" forming part of Letters Patent No. 375,586, dated December 27, 1887.

Application filed May 24, 1887.

To all whom it mayroncern:

Be it known that I, OHARLEs L. WAGANDT, ofthe city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, haveinvented certain Improvements in Speaking'lubes, of which the following is a specification.

It frequently occurs that where a number of speaking-tubes leading from various parts of a factory terminate in some roornsucl1 as the store or ofiice of the factory-and the mouthpieces of the said tubes are arranged side by side and in close proximity to each other, upon one of the said tubes being used from the factory and its whistle sounded it is difficult for the person desiring to answer the call to ascertain which one of the tubes had been used.

Various devices have been employed to indicate which of a series of tubes has been sounded; but these devices are usually of a complicated character, and their employment involves an entire change in the construction tion which follows reference is made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof,

and in which- Figure I is a sectional side view of a part of aspeaking-tube and its mouth-piece provided with my improvement. Fig. II is a front view of a series of such tubes, and showing one of them as having been used. Figs. III, IV, and V are modifications in the construction of a part of the invention, as hereinafter described.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts in all the figures.

In the said drawings, A is the speakingtube, and B the mouth-piece of the said tube, having therein a Whistle, a, which is attached to a spindle, I), provided with a crank, c, and the spring d, in the usual manner.

Serial No. 239,190. (No model.)

C is a cover or cap. hinged at e to the lower part of the mouthpiece. I The mouth-piece is tilted slightly backward from a vertical line, in order that the cap will remain closed without any holding device; but the angle of inclination is such that little force is required to throw the cap outward and down to the position shown in its dotted delineation in Fig. I.

It will be understood that air passing from the speaking-tube issues from the central hole in the whistle. I therefore attach to the inner surface of the cap 0 an air-collector, D,which consists of a piece of sheet metal preferably formed in the shape of a cone and soldered to thecap. The larger end of this conical aircollector comes nearly in contact with the whistle, and it receives the whole volume of air issuing from the opening in the whistle and conducts it to the center of the cap,which is thereby thrown beyond a vertical line, so that it will fall and display the interior of the mouth-piece.

For convenience I number or letter the outside of the caps, and these numbers or letters indicate the various rooms or apartments with which the tubes are in communication.

It is not absolutely necessary that the aircollectors should be of conical shape, as they could be of pyramidal or other form, it being only necessary that the air should be conveyed from the hole in the whistle to some point on the inner side of the cap, and thus prevent the air spreading over the entire inner surface of the cap, which would tend to reduce its force.

In Fig-III the air-collector is of trumpet shape,while in Fig. IV it is of cylindrical form, and in Fig. V of pyramidal shape.

I claim as 1n'yinvention In a speaking-tube, the mouth-piece thereof provided with a hinged cap having an inner air-current collector connected to and moving therewith, whereby the full force of the air is conveyed to one point on the inner side of the said cap, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

CHARLES L. WAGANDT.

Witnesses:

WM. '1. HOWARD,

J. S. HULL.- 

